


Side by Side

by mydickisthealpha



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombies, M/M, MakoRin Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-17
Updated: 2014-12-17
Packaged: 2018-03-01 21:28:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2788358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mydickisthealpha/pseuds/mydickisthealpha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The light they huddle around flickers weakly, echoing the sporadic rain drops pattering against the window. It would seem like any other rainy day, if it were any other day. Makoto hasn’t looked away from the light since they lit it, since they came down from another adrenaline high, another fight for life. The dead still walk outside, oblivious to everything but the desire to feed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Side by Side

**Author's Note:**

> Just cross-posting things for makorin week to keep it all together...
> 
> For the horror prompt for makorin week.

01\. The light they huddle around flickers weakly, echoing the sporadic rain drops pattering against the window. It would seem like any other rainy day, if it _were_ any other day. Makoto hasn’t looked away from the light since they lit it, since they came down from another adrenaline high, another fight for life. The dead still walk outside, oblivious to everything but the desire to feed. 

Rin stares at Makoto, hoping for some sign of warmth, some sign that he hasn’t given up hope. It’s been such a long time since things were okay, and Makoto has been the strong one out of all of them, dragging Rin away from Gou’s soulless corpse, and on, and on. It seems though, with the loss of Nagisa, Makoto's spirit has been deteriorating slowly. 

Rin is surprised it didn’t start with Haru, although there’s no telling whether Haru is alive or dead. He’s quiet, and quick; maybe he’s okay. Rei played the martyr card near the beginning, pushing Nagisa just out of grasp. Maybe that’s why Nagisa is gone now, maybe he lost the desire to move forward with the loss of Rei. 

02\. “Rin?” Makoto asks, long after they’ve blown out the lantern, startling him even as thunder rolls through the abandoned school building. He turns his face to look at Makoto, who lies next to him, their arms touching. 

"Yeah?" Rin’s voice cracks, maybe from screaming, maybe from wheezing as he pushes himself to run faster, or maybe from exhaustion. 

"Do you ever think about swimming?"

It’s the last thing Rin expects to hear, so it makes him laugh, the first laugh in a very long time. It feels foreign in his mouth. 

"Not anymore," he answers, truthfully. If he’s being honest, he hardly has time to think about swimming. Mostly he thinks about survival, about those he’s lost, about where they’re going to go next. He thinks about losing Makoto, and has to stop before the tremors in his hands turn into full out shaking. 

"You and Haru were beautiful in the water," Makoto smiles warmly, as he stares at the ceiling, "when you showed us sights we’d never seen before. It was like you were flying instead of swimming, or like maybe the water was carrying you. I used to think that if I didn’t have Haru with me, I wouldn’t be the same."

Makoto’s fingers touch his, then curl around them, and Rin squeezes back tightly.

"It was really hard to be without you, too," Makoto whispers, and Rin wonders how he changed so much without Makoto there to encourage him. 

The warmth of their hands urges them into sleep.

03\. Moving on from a safe(ish) place is always hard. They live in a place for a few days before it becomes too dangerous, and then they pack it up to go. The worst part, besides hiding and running from the dead, is seeing all of the things that used to be beautiful smothered in decay and blood. There are remnants of life along the docks, boats that bring back distant memories to both Makoto and Rin. 

There are nets that used to be cast, and shops that used to be open; people used to bustle along these streets looking for a bargain, and now they stumble about aimlessly. There’s nothing left in there, like there’s nothing left in the houses but ghosts and shadows. 

Makoto avoids looking at the playground altogether, which was, no doubt, full of children when the outbreak happened. Rin thinks if he looked, he’d see Ran and Ren. 

It seems to be overcast most of the time, and they both agree that it’s worse when it’s sunny and nature seems to flourish. It’s easy, then, to understand the awful silence. 

04\. They’re in an abandoned van in the middle of a back road that used to be inhabited by survivors. They know this because there’s sheets in the back— a makeshift bed— along with a few full and empty cans of food, bottles of water, and a first aid kit. They wait almost the entire night before they decide to go to it, just in case it’s a trap or maybe someone else’s home. They don’t ponder on how the previous tenant left it, if by choice or not. 

They have to curl around each other to fit, and Rin doesn’t say it, but he likes the reassuring presence of Makoto’s arms around him. Makoto is strong, and, in a tight situation, where it really matters, it’s like he’s a different person. His fear vanishes while determination and power take the place of someone who’s more soft than sharp. It’s useful, and Rin is glad he doesn’t always have to take the lead. It’s funny that they were both captains of the swim team back in high school. 

"It’s unfair that the world didn’t get to see you and Haru before this happened," Makoto says, one arm behind Rin’s head, his hand gliding through the strands; if he does this for Rin’s comfort or his own, he doesn’t say. Maybe it’s a bit of both. "The world wouldn’t have known what to do with you."

"You could’ve done it, too," Rin murmurs, eyes closed. He focuses on the rise and fall of Makoto’s chest just behind him. 

"The competitive world wasn’t for me," Makoto says, mirthfully, aware of the irony, "I would’ve loved to teach others how to swim. Maybe I could’ve helped them with a lot of things, things we should’ve had help with. Things you should’ve had help with."

Rin doesn’t say anything, immediately thinking of the loss of his father and the conflicting emotions of his time in and after Australia. They eventually figured things out, but it took a lot of pain and faltering before they did. 

"You would’ve helped people grow into great athletes, and great people," Rin says, firmly, tone brooking no argument. Makoto giggles, shaking Rin, which makes him grin. 

"I wonder if you could’ve helped Sousuke," Rin ponders aloud.

"Yamazaki-kun was a bit intimidating," Makoto confesses. 

"Nah, he’s a big baby. He was a big baby… is…," Rin trails off, grabbing his shirt just above his heart. Thinking about Sousuke hurts, because they’d been near each other when this all started, but they’d lost each other on the way out of Samezuka. Rin feels like it’s his fault, because he’d been so distracted with calling Gou. 

"Yamazaki-kun is a very strong person, I’m sure he’s taking good care of himself," Makoto soothes. 

"You would’ve been friends— both of you are so huge."

"I would’ve been able to hear him," Makoto says, cheekily, and Rin scowls back at him. 

"Are you saying something about my height? Because you’re the freaky one here, not me."

"Ah, is that so?" Makoto wraps his arms around Rin’s waist and squeezes tightly, breathing laughter into his ear. It sends a shiver down Rin’s spine, even as warmth blooms in his chest. 

The moment is short-lived when a bloody hand smacks against the back window.

05\. “Makoto! Makoto!!” Shot after shot and Rin can’t see him, can only see the Eaters from all sides. He’s so terrified he feels like his legs might go out from under him. He can’t see Makoto, he can’t see Makoto, where is he? An Eater grabs ahold of him, and he falters. 

A quick shot to it’s head with his handgun has him running again.

He keeps running— he has to— hoping with everything in him that Makoto is following him. He can’t do this without him. 

He changes course so that he isn’t on the asphalt of the road anymore, but running through forest. The Eaters might be hungry, but they aren’t smart. He can lose them with a few twists and turns. He can barely see, not only because it’s dark and the forest blocks out even the light of the stars, but also because there are tears stinging at his eyes, blurring his vision. His chest aches with the loss of breath and the loss of Makoto. 

He’s lost so many people already, and Makoto, who has been so hopeful throughout all of this, generous and warm even to strangers, who was one of his first friends in the world— he doesn’t want to think about him being torn apart. He doesn’t want to think that maybe Makoto could see him running away. 

He stops abruptly, collapsing onto his knees. He wants to scream, he wants to rip the trees from their roots. He wants to kill every Eater on the planet. He…

06\. Tears fall from Rin’s eyes, and hiccups great sobbing breaths. He can’t keep the wounded noises inside his mouth, and it feels like great waves are crushing him. He left Makoto. There’s no one else. 

He sits back against a large tree, trying to breathe, looking to the sky for something— for strength, for courage to face this, for something. 

It takes him what feels like hours to calm down, and then he’s left in a catatonic state, tears slipping down his face in abandon. He can’t feel them falling. 

A distant memory plays in his mind— of the wind flowing through his hair as he holds on to Makoto’s shoulders. They’re on Makoto’s bike, flying through Iwatobi like they own it. Rin explicitly trusts Makoto to keep the bike steady, enough even to let go of his shoulders and hold his arms out like a bird. Laughter bubbles up and out of them into the air, changing into yelps and giggles when they hit bumps in the road. It feels like a lot like swimming, to Rin. Nothing feels better.

It’s a peaceful and sweet memory, followed by more. Makoto greeting him at school, Makoto teasing him about his nickname, Makoto bringing him soup when he’s sick. Then there’s Makoto calling even when he shouldn’t have, Makoto remembering his silly dream about sakura petals in a pool, Makoto taking care of him, Makoto holding him in the van. Rin can’t help but smile fondly, there at the tree, even as the ache sinks deeper, spreads out to all his limbs. 

A crack of a tree limb from behind alerts him, and he grasps his gun; standing quickly, but staying hidden. They must’ve followed his scent here. His breathing speeds up as he gets ready to see what he’s facing, if it’s one or two, perhaps more. Swallowing, he jerks around the tree.

07\. Makoto holds his hands up. He’s covered in mud, and breathing heavily, and Rin begins crying anew, running to him. 

He grabs Makoto’s face in his hands and presses their mouths together fiercely, over and over. Makoto’s surprised noise gets swallowed up between them and he pulls Rin closer, and they kiss and kiss, smiling and crying all the while. 

"I thought… I thought—," Rin can’t say, when he pulls back to look at Makoto properly. Makoto gives him that beautiful grin. 

"I’m here," he says. 

That’s all Rin needs.

"I love you, I love you— I didn’t tell you I love you," Rin answers, peppering kisses on his muddy cheeks, and pulling him into a hug, shutting his eyes tightly. The relief he’s feeling makes him dizzy, but Makoto supports him.

"I’ve always loved you," Makoto whispers back and it hurts more than anything has ever hurt before.

08\. The refuge camp they’ve found is full of people— real people, living and happy and healthy. They have built sturdy shelter, have farm land and water; they have houses and resources and Makoto and Rin have moved for so long, it feels weird being stationary. But it’s bright here, and there is love between them, grown stronger since their confession months and months ago. 

Their new home, a small, one bedroom apartment, is a nice change from cold ground and they spend a few days sleeping. When they come out, hand in hand, side by side, they’re smiling wider than they have in a while. 

"Makoto? Rin?" 

Rin and Makoto turn at the questions and come face to face with Haru and Sousuke.


End file.
